The coronavirus crisis has exposed the shared vulnerability of Europe’s interdependence. Time to turn that into a strength.
The green agenda—a social and geopolitical tool
The European green agenda is key to saving the planet—but it could also save an enlightenment-based multilateral order from nationalist irrationalism.
Electoral Authoritarianism, Elective Dictatorship
Jair Bolsonaro will be President of Brazil. A homophobic soldier with authoritarian excesses, who has scorned democratic mechanisms and threatened his political rivals, will lead the greatest regional power in Latin America that is now a global giant. In fact, his profile, a caricature of a third-rate dictator, would be comical if it weren’t for […]
Inequality More Than Matters
Inequality is the biggest challenge of our time. It undermines social confidence and reduces support for democratic institutions. It lurks behind the new toxic relationship that western societies have established with their future and explains much of recent resentment-driven electoral phenomena and the surge of identity politics with its disruptive backlash. As for the economic […]
Democracy Without Glue
The aftershocks of the Great Recession are still being felt. The trail of suffering in the shape of unemployment and destruction of wealth has transformed the map-making of the western world, ending up by provoking a real geopolitical recession with an Anglo-American epicentre aka the cradle of global capitalism. Likewise, the coordinates of the political […]
The Geopolitics Of Chaos
The new world disorder is under way while speculation about what President Trump would do has given way to a spate of executive orders. The cocktail of reactionary withdrawal from previous commitments (Trump + Brexit is imposing a change of guard on international relationships, leaving the northern hemisphere turned upside down. The neoliberal economic and […]
Europe And The Globalization Of Unrest
Donald Trump’s victory has sent the liberal world order into a tailspin. We are not just facing a wake-up call; this wave of authoritarian national populism with shades of protectionism has stormed the castle walls. A racist president, unpredictable and misogynist, who defends a white isolated “America”, is about to take leadership of the first […]
The Decline Of The European Empire
While Europe was engrossed in facing up to the Euro crisis, all around it the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War was deepening. The management of the Great Recession has impoverished the continent and is polarizing it but the refugee crisis is the first that affects the center and not just the periphery. […]
Europe In Multiple Organ Failure
The European Project finds itself at its worst point since its creation. First came the disastrous management of The Great Recession and the consequent loss of legitimacy of European institutions. Now, the management of the refugee crisis has overwhelmed Berlin and Brussels and turned the Mediterranean into one of the most deadly borders in the […]
A High Seas Disgrace That Should Shake Us Into Action
Europe cannot afford the shame of doing nothing while thousands of migrants die in the Mediterranean simply seeking a better life. There have been more than 1000 deaths in the past few days alone. What northern Africa is currently going through is the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. If the European institutions do […]
Europe Is Back At Square One
Europe is back at square one. On the verge of a third recession in five years, the relentless tide is even crashing against the insurmountable walls of the German factory powerhouse. Stagnation yet again in the Eurozone – this time accompanied by a certain whiff of Japanese-style deflation. Once more the markets are getting nervous: a volatile […]